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2016 K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship, Rounds 11 & 12

Words: Josh BarrettFeatured Photo Credit SJN Photography

The longstanding championship battle between Patrick Fletcher and James Bark hotted up further at Silverstone for rounds 11 and 12 of the K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship, where Bark took a duo of victories to close the points margin to just four between the pair, once drop scores are taken into account.

Round 11

An incident-filled opening lap of race one caused a red flag, where Trevor Gregory was turned into the pit wall off of the start and was collected by his Father, Bill. Further around the lap Arron Sharp was turned around and collected by Martin Ward, eliminating Sharp. To top of the melee, Arron’s brother Scott had already been taken out of the race as his bonnet accidentally flew open on the green flag lap, smashing the windscreen.

An eight minute plus one lap restart followed with Bark, Fletcher and Phil Wright at the head of the pack – an occurrence which has been fairly regular this season. They finished in that order despite some challenges from Fletcher. A strong run from Don De Graaff saw the former Formula Renault racer take fourth, from 13th on the grid. Nick Garner and George Williams completed the top six, with the latter driver running fourth in the early stages. Former kart racer Charlie Turner took seventh in his first car race, aboard the Andrew Tibbs-run Clio.

Round 12

Bark took another lights-to-flag victory in race two. Wright got the better of Fletcher at the start, but the positions switched on lap four which meant an identical podium to Saturday’s encounter. Mark Balmer took an impressive fourth, ahead of Garner and Scott Sharp.

The final outing for the 2016 K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship is at Rockingham on 11th September, where the championship will finally be decided.

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Race 1

The inaugural round of the new for 2014 K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Series provided the two of the best races of the day with ex-Stock Hatch champions Patrick Fletcher and Jeff Humphries fighting hard to take the first victories.

Mark Armstrong, who put his Clio on pole position for both races, was unable to compete in either race due to an engine failure in qualifying which meant that Caterham graduate Dan Livingstone was on a lonely front row.

A storming start from the outside of the second row put 2011 Stock Hatch champion, Patrick Fletcher into the lead at Copse. ‚ He pulled clear of the pack by a full second on the first lap ahead of Mark Hammersley and Livingstone. ‚ However, it was Jeff Humphries who started in sixth that would work his way up into second place by lap three as he prepared to hunt down Fletcher. ‚ Humphries, who won the Stock Hatch title in 2009, whittled down a two second gap to challenge Fletcher but was unable to find a way ahead of him.

Meanwhile, behind the leading pair, Benny Seybold had moved into third before Matt Fincham passed him at Becketts to stand on the third step of the podium with Livingstone and Hammersley following him through.

The first race of the season saw the top six separated by less than three seconds proving that the series is set for a competitive year.

Race 2

After a stunning first race of the day, it was unlikely that the second race would be able to deliver anything more ¢â‚¬â€œ nevertheless the Clio boys were out to deliver. ‚ Once again it was Fletcher that powered his way into the lead from the second row of the grid, as front-row man Livingstone had an off at Copse which dropped him to the rear of the field.

Humphries followed Fletcher to move into second position but once again had to close down a second gap. ‚ Fincham, who started in tenth, only took two laps to move into third. ‚ The pair pushed hard to close the gap to Fletcher to make a three car battle for the lead. ‚ Using the slipstream around the fast Silverstone National Circuit both Humphries and Fincham challenged for the lead.

On the eighth lap the trio went three abreast heading into Copse corner and Humphries used the outside line into the corner to cut back to move ahead of his rivals to lead the race. ‚ Fletcher didn¢â‚¬â„¢t waste any time to move back to the front as he dived up on the inside of Humphries at Becketts to move back into the lead.

After sitting behind Fletcher for the next few laps Humphries made a challenge into Copse on the final lap and took the lead, which became the victory, ahead of both Fletcher and Fincham.

Meanwhile, Hammersley got the better of Seybold and Daniel Spencer in the battle for fourth.

Written by Josh Barrett – original content from 750 Motor Club and available from here.